TallGuyJohninBKK

Samsung Philippines has their own EN language website... And from what I've seen there, they have full specs listed in EN for all the Samsung models they sell there, including the LTE and 5G bands available in each. It's a handy site to be aware of... because the Samsung models sold in TH are pretty much identical in terms of hardware to the Samsung models sold in TH... both SEA variants... So it's an easier info source to access, compared to the Samsung Thailand website that's primarily in TH, AFAIK.

also, fyi, here are the current primary LTE bands used by AT&T -- again, they're ones that are NOT found on a lot of the lower-end models sold in Thailand. So you have to be careful in making phone purchases that you want to be TH and U.S. compatible: https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1008740/ Here's another look at that same kind of info for various U.S. carriers, which also calls out the MAIN LTE bands each use (meaning those that are most widely available on their networks). LTE bands 2, 4 and 12 seem to be primary in the U.S. in general as noted by the BOLD notations below. https://www.phonearena.com/news/Cheat-sheet-which-4G-LTE-bands-do-AT-T-Verizon-T-Mobile-and-Sprint-use-in-the-USA_id77933

Ha!! After shopping around the past few days, I also bought an M33 (the 5G version) from Lazada. It's due to arrive at home today. And fyi, the LTE band specs indicate it should work great with any TMobile compatible carrier in the U.S. I didn't check about AT&T, because I don't use them. Interesting re Sheryl's original question -- as someone who used to use a J7 model the same as her, I didn't know what ever happened to the affordable J series Samsung had, nor did I much understand what the supposed differences were (other than price) between their current A and M series lines. After reading up some, turns out the current M series line is considered the successor to their now discontinued J series line. From what I read, the M series line is mainly targeted at the India and SEA markets, and mainly is sold online as opposed to in Samsung retail stores elsewhere. Again, from what I read, the A and M series comparable models often have identical or very similar specs on the various key features like screen size and pixels, ROM and RAM, cameras, etc. But the A series models may have fancier build features and apparently come with some enhanced Samsung software features. But all of that, for the A series models, at considerably higher prices compared to the M series models. So, it was an interesting read about all of that! PS - For Americans, right now is a good time to make a mobile phone purchase in Thailand, because the exchange rate right now is the best it's been in years, around 36 baht to the dollar last time I checked. So that kept the total USD price of my M33 5G under $200 U.S., which is kind of the general target I shoot for.

Re your various comments above: 1. From everything I've read and seen, transmission of COVID via eye exposure is a rare occurrence, and the vast majority of infections occur through the traditional respiratory routes, where good quality N95 type masks worn and fitted properly provide good protection. 2. The new generation Omicron targeted vaccines may be on track for initial approval, probably in the U.S. in the fall or toward the end of the year, but that doesn't automatically mean they're going to become approved and available in Thailand just as soon, based on past history of such things. 3. Regarding the latest Omicron variants, they don't need to cause worse health problems than the prior Omicron variants in order to cause more problems, because they're also more transmissible. So, to illustrate that, if just for illustrative purposes, only 1 in 10 of people infected with the earlier Omicron variants had substantial health problems.... But then you take that same 1 in 10 rate and apply it to the BA 4 and 5 variants, that tend to infect much much larger numbers of people, suddenly the numbers of people with substantial health problems ending up in hospital start getting bigger and bigger, solely by virtue of increased transmission.

Sheryl, here's an example of what I was talking about above in terms of US vs Thai LTE band compatibility... And one of the advantages of shopping at a place like the official Samsung Store on Lazada is that they tend to list the details of each model's LTE band specs in each listing, whereas 3rd party small shop carriers often don't. The Samsung A22 is a perfectly good dual SIM model for Thailand listed at 5,800 baht on sale right now, with a 128 GB ROM and 6 GB RAM... However, if you scroll down into the detailed specs, you'll see the following re its LTE bands capability: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/samsung-galaxy-a22-6128-gb-i2505316715-s8865435293.html As you can see above, it has the main LTE bands 1 and 3 most commonly used in Thailand, along with Band 40, which is another common Thai band. So it would be a perfectly fine phone for Thailand. But it does NOT have LTE bands 2 or 4 or 12 or 66 that are the primary bands for T-Mobile in the U.S., so this model would be a bad choice for wanting a U.S. compatible phone that would work well on T-Mobile based networks there. And the same for the A 13 and A23 models. But if you flip over to the Samsung M22 model for 5,150 baht with 128 GB ROM and 6 GB RAM, you'll find a model that has BOTH the common Thai and US LTE bands. (And same with the similar but slightly higher specced M32 model). https://www.lazada.co.th/products/samsung-galaxy-m22-6128-gb-i2835032441-s10345463179.html Those are the kinds of things I think you need to watch out for, when looking for a phone that is both Thai and U.S. compatible.

PS - Samsung has an "official" online store on Lazada TH these days, so you can buy from there knowing that you're getting a legit / new / fully warranteed model... unlike some other dodgy online sellers out there... And they seem to be having a mid-month online late right now thru the 19th.... I was looking this morning, and believe I saw various Samsung A2X and 3X series model phones in the 6-8,000 baht range, and some similar M23 5G and M33 5G models in the 6500 to 7000 baht range. The M series models tend to have full HD regular LCD screens, whereas the comparable and higher A series models often have the more expensive and crisper Super AMOLED screens. https://www.lazada.co.th/shop/samsung-official-estore/Mobilecategory.htm?wh_weex=true

Sheryl, with phone stuff, a lot of the choices come down to a balancing act between how fancy/advanced the features you want on the phone vs. what price you're willing to pay for them. For starters, I think, you need to decide whether you want/need a 5G capable model (which is going to be more expensive generally) or you can get along with the regular LTE versions (which generally are going to be less expensive). AFAIK, pretty much all of the Samsung models sold in Thailand are dual SIM, so you don't have to worry about that much... unlike the U.S., where almost all of their models unfortunately are only single SIM versions. (Which is one reason I usually end up buying my mobile phones here). For Samsung, their A and M series models tend to be their middle of the road versions in both price and features, with the mid-tier model numbers (A and M series 20s and 30s) having better feature sets and somewhat higher prices than their 0X and 1X series models), but less than their 4X, 5X etc. higher series models. I used to own a J7, and if memory serves, it was a 16 GB ROM and 2GB RAM model. These days, for my use, I max out the capacity on the later Samsung A6+ 32 GB ROM model I have, and so any new purchase would be 64 GB or higher for me.. But that depends a lot on how many apps and other stuff you keep on your phone now, or plan to for the future. These days, I think 32 GB ROM and 2 GB RAM models tend to be the low end minimums for Samsung. US mobile network compatibility can be another bugaboo, especially with some of the Chinese brands, and the lower end Samsung models, especially the A0X versions. In my experience, those tend to have LTE bands focused on Asia, and lack common U.S. LTE bands. But by the time you get up to the A3X and higher Samsung series models, they come with more LTE bands in their hardware and should work well in both countries. I tend to use T-Mobile or other carriers that use the TM network when in the U.S., and they use the following LTE bands for their service, with LTE bands 2, 4, 12 and 66 being their primary ones, AFAIK (whereas the main Thai carrier LTE bands tend to be 1 and 3). I think Samsung models A3X series and up should tend to cover both sets of LTE bands, but you really have to check any individual phone model you're considering to make sure. If you were using AT&T based services when back in the U.S., you can find the same kind of info for them, and make sure any phone device you buy here is compatible with at least some of the LTE bands they use. AFAIK, 5G band compatibility between Thailand and the U.S. tends to be a bigger problem. As best as I can tell, most of the 5G bands used by the main Thai mobile carriers are different from the main 5G bands used by the major U.S. providers. So finding a 5G phone model that covers both could be a challenge (though they'd still likely have basic LTE compatibility in both countries, even if they didn't for 5G).

Same dynamic for Thailand -- at home and unreported testing masks the true numbers of infections occurring Why the Omicron offshoot BA.5 is a big deal ... A 'full-on' wave The result is that we're getting sick in droves. As Americans have switched to more rapid at-home tests, official case counts -- currently hovering around 110,000 new infections a day -- reflect just a fraction of the true disease burden. "We estimate that for every reported case there are 7 unreported," Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, wrote in an email. ... Daily hospitalizations are also climbing in the United States. The fraction of patients needing intensive care is up by about 23% over the past two weeks." (more) https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/health/omicron-ba-5-variant-immunity-severity/index.html

"680 000 [480 000−1.0 million] people died of HIV-related illnesses worldwide in 2020." https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/number-of-deaths-due-to-hiv-aids Covid worldwide killed more than 1.88 million in 2020 (more than double the number from HIV) and another 3.56 million in 2021 (five times the number from HIV). AND From the WHO for 2019 (apparently it's most recent report on the subject): "Other diseases which were among the top 10 causes of death in 2000 are no longer on the list. HIV/AIDS is one of them. Deaths from HIV/AIDS have fallen by 51% during the last 20 years, moving from the world’s 8th leading cause of death in 2000 to the 19th in 2019." https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death Never let facts get in the way of a good off topic diversion/deflection.

HIV is nowhere in the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. for 2021 as shown in the CDC chart above. So presumably its current number is even lower than those various causes listed as the top 10.

In most first world countries such as the U.S. that I'm familiar with, COVID deaths have far outnumbered flu deaths... not even a close comparison. The typical annual flu deaths number for the U.S. is in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands as with COVID. "COVID-19, listed as the underlying cause in 415,399 deaths during 2021, ranked as the third leading underlying cause of death after heart disease (693,021 deaths) and cancer (604,553 deaths) (Figure 2). ... Influenza and pneumonia, which was the ninth leading cause of death in 2020 (53,544 deaths), dropped out of the 10 leading causes in 2021 (41,835 deaths)." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7117e1.htm

According to Our World in Data, the world has had about 6.36 million "official" COVID deaths, which are widely considered a considerable undercount to reality, since the start of the pandemic, broken out as follows: 2020 from late January on had about 1.88 million COVID deaths COVID vaccines first became available to some areas in late 2020 2021 had about 3.56 million COVID deaths 2022 thru July 13 has had about 920,000 COVID deaths Source: In contrast, some recent research projected that the rollout of COVID vaccines worldwide just during 2021 only saved an estimated 14 - 20 million lives who otherwise would have died from COVID: COVID-19 vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives in a year, study says Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. ... The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom. ... The main finding — 19.8 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented — is based on estimates of how many more deaths than usual occurred during the time period. Using only reported COVID-19 deaths, the same model yielded 14.4 million deaths averted by vaccines. (more) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-saved-nearly-20-million-lives-in-a-year-study-says/

And from here on our own forum: Fresh COVID wave sweeps Asia; New Zealand warns of pressure on hospitals WELLINGTON/TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - A new wave of coronavirus infections is rapidly spreading through Asia, prompting warnings for residents from New Zealand to Japan to take precautions to slow the outbreak and help prevent healthcare systems from being overwhelmed. The renewed surge in cases, mostly of the BA.4/5 Omicron variants, provides a further challenge for authorities grappling with the economic fallout of earlier waves of the pandemic while trying to avoid extending or reintroducing unpopular restrictions. The New Zealand government on Thursday announced free masks and rapid antigen tests as it tries to relieve pressure on the country's health system, which is dealing with an influx of both COVID and influenza patients during the southern hemisphere winter. (more) https://aseannow.com/topic/1265963-fresh-covid-wave-sweeps-asia-new-zealand-warns-of-pressure-on-hospitals/

The 2nd gen COVID vaccines due hopefully toward the end of the year are supposed to have a longer duration of protection, in addition to being more effective against the current/newer COVID variants. You eat and drink pretty much every day, right, because that's what your body needs. You don't "draw the line" at eating after 3 meals. Well, right now, to be best protected against COVID, your body needs a booster shot every 4 months or so.... until the 2nd generation vaccines arrive.

And one indicator from the U.S.: L.A. County coronavirus deaths rising fast as ultra-contagious BA.5 fuels infection wave The number of weekly COVID-19 deaths reported in Los Angeles County has doubled over the last month — the first significant increase in fatalities since the winter surge. Over the last week, the nation’s most populous county tallied roughly 100 COVID-19 deaths, the highest total in three months. A month ago, the county was reporting about 50 deaths a week. ... “There’s a lot of misinformation circulating about COVID right now, including that, at this point, it only causes mild illness,” said L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. “Unfortunately, this isn’t true.” (more) https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-13/l-a-county-covid-19-deaths-hospitalizations-double-in-one-month AND With COVID Surging, Los Angeles May Soon Require Masks The nation's most populous county is facing a return to a broad indoor mask mandate as new omicron variants are again driving hospital admissions and deaths higher LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Barragan is used to wearing a mask because his job in the Hollywood film industry has long required it. So he won't be fazed if the county that's home to Tinseltown soon becomes the first major population center this summer to reinstate rules requiring face coverings indoors because of another spike in coronavirus cases. “I feel fine about it because I’ve worn one pretty much constantly for the last few years. It’s become a habit,” said Barragan, masked up while out running errands Wednesday. Los Angeles is the most populous county, home to 10 million residents. It faces a return to a broad indoor mask mandate on July 29 if current trends in hospital admissions continue, county health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. (more) https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-07-14/masks-could-return-to-los-angeles-as-covid-surges-nationwide

And for those who don't like the WHO: Calls for return of Covid controls after UK death toll passes 200,000 ‘Damning milestone’ means we need to see better sick pay and return of mask-wearing, doctors and bereaved families say Doctors and people bereaved by Covid have described the 200,000th death from the virus in the UK as a “tragic milestone” and called for the return of infection control measures, including mask wearing and better sick pay amid concern about rising cases and new variants. Prof Philip Banfield, council chair of the British Medical Association, said: “This terrible loss of life must serve as an important reminder that Covid-19 has not gone away and remains a serious threat to public health.” ... With hospital admissions from Covid tripling in the UK since the end of May, Jo Goodman, a cofounder of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign, which represents more than 6,500 families, said: “Two hundred thousand deaths is a tragedy and yet another damning milestone of the government’s handling of the pandemic. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/13/calls-for-more-covid-control-measures-after-uk-death-toll-passes-200000

It's still out there and making people sick and killing some... regardless of some posters here who want to stick their heads in the sand and ignore reality: WHO Chief Warns of Rising Infections, Deaths From New Covid Wave The World Health Organization urged governments and health care systems to take steps to curb Covid-19 transmission as a fresh wave of infections moves across Europe and the US. Sub-variants of the omicron strain are lifting case numbers and leading to further fatalities, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. Tedros, as the head of the WHO is known, recommended the revival of protocols like mask-wearing to stop the spread. “New waves of the virus demonstrate that Covid-19 is nowhere near over,” Tedros said, adding that he is “concerned about a rising trend of deaths.” (more) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/who-chief-warns-of-rising-infections-deaths-from-new-covid-wave

July 17, 1997 Thailand hotel executives charged in fire "BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Two hotel executives have been charged in the deaths of 90 people _ many of them trapped behind locked emergency exits _ in Thailand’s worst hotel fire. Both men neglected fire safety measures at the Royal Jomtien Resort in the beach city of Pattaya, where the fire broke out Friday, police said. ... Thavorn Ujjin, managing director of Kiatpol Co. Ltd., which owns the hotel, and company chairman Indra Thamrongwitwatpong, both have been charged with involuntarily causing death and injury, said Maj. Gen. Kongdej Choosri, police commander in the home province of the 8-year-old luxury hotel." (more) https://apnews.com/article/488de1069ce8ae0d28688fc292b76c03 And then...

For folks who actually read the OP news clip, it clearly explains the difference between the very small number of daily official cases that are publicly reported vs. the much larger numbers of COVID cases being found and treated every day (but not publicly reported most of the time) under the government's recent changes to its COVID reporting practices: "Moreover he admitted that the daily Covid tally only mentions patients who have been hospitalised with there being an average of 29,000 patients getting treatment on outpatient basis under the “see, give, end” system during the 26th week or a total of 207,643."

This is one of the more "pageanty" looking photos of her I'm finding on the Sanook website: https://www.sanook.com/news/8587346/gallery/3928162/

My presumption when I got and read the State Department bulletin was that the sudden closure was somehow because of COVID / illnesses there.... But, I haven't seen / found anything authoritative thus far that confirms that as the reason...

Well, I haven't died, been hospitalized or caught COVID in the past 2-1/2 years... So something must be working out right... Vaccines, face masks, social distancing, hand hygiene, etc etc.

The wife and I went out for some shopping today in BKK, and took the BTS for travel for the first time in a while... On the way in, stopped and asked the ticket counter staff what the current BTS policy is re face masks, and was told they're no longer required to board BTS, as they had been in the past. Nonetheless, once we got up and onto the train, pretty much everyone I saw onboard on our train -- Thai and foreigner alike -- were wearing face masks, including the wife and I. Not because the government does or doesn't have some kind of rule / law or policy on face mask wear. But because it's the smart and prudent thing to do when close around other people.

Just because people who wear masks outside sometimes end up coming down with a COVID infection, doesn't automatically mean face mask wearing either a] doesn't work at all, or b] doesn't help reduce the spread of COVID. Wearing a good quality face mask (N95 if possible) helps reduce one's risk of contracting COVID.... just as even the current vaccines help reduce the risk of infection, especially during the first 4 months or so post injection, and the risk of serious illness on a more ongoing basis. Note in both cases I said REDUCE the risk -- not eliminate the risk 100%. A person can wear their mask outside all day and every time they venture out.... But if they come home at night and get exposed by a spouse or kids who have picked up the virus somewhere, that's not a failure of the mask... And numerous other comparable examples like that. Mask wearing ought to be part of a broader pattern of actions people can take to protect their own health and the health of those around them -- COVID vaccinations and boosters, quality face mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, etc... All of those things together each help reduce your overall risk. And the more of them you make part of your personal routines, the better your chances of avoiding COVID and, failing that, avoiding serious COVID illness.

Ya, perhaps some would wish Thailand were more like the anti vax and anti mask folks in the U.S., where 1 million + have died from COVID since the beginning. That's about 0.30% of the total 330+ million population. Right now, Thailand has had nearly 31,000 official COVID deaths since the beginning. If we applied that same 0.30% of the population COVID death rate to Thailand with its 70 million population, that would equal about 210,000 dead of COVID in Thailand as opposed to nearly 31,000!